Even when a call goes against him at the plate, Eric Haase tends to shrug it off. He knows the umpires are human. As a catcher, he knows the challenge of calling balls and strikes. Mistakes happen. Haase gets it.
But when Haase was rung up on a fastball at least a couple inches off the plate for the final out of the Tigers’ 3-1 loss to the Rangers Thursday night, he couldn’t hold back. He let Jose Navas hear it. He told the home plate ump, in no uncertain terms, that he had screwed up. And as he stalked back to the dugout after the Tigers’ fifth straight loss, Haase turned around and barked something unsuitable for print in Navas’ direction.
“It was horrendous, if we’re being honest,” Haase said of the final call. “Especially for a guy that doesn’t play much like I do, (about) 100 at-bats (this season), five or six pretty egregiously bad strikeout calls, it’s kind of tough.”
Representing the tying run against Rangers closer Joe Barlow, Haase thought he had worked the count even after falling behind 0-2. He had, until Navas decided he hadn’t. Who knows what would have happened had the at-bat continued. Haase had already hit a couple balls hard that night.
“You can’t play what-ifs and what not, but you buy yourself another pitch right there on a pitch that’s nowhere near the zone, so it’s obviously frustrating,” said Haase. “But the situation is more frustrating than the pitch itself."
It was a fitting end to a game in which Navas missed several calls behind the plate, including one that went in the Tigers’ favor in the top half of the ninth when closer Gregory Soto was gifted a strikeout below the zone before blowing Detroit’s 1-0 lead.
Asked if it would mean anything for Navas to later acknowledge his game-ending blunder, Haase said, “Until these guys are held accountable there’s really nothing that can change. We have the electric strike zone, who knows if that’s ever going to be implemented or not. There’s really nothing we can do about it.
“The timing of it’s more frustrating than anything. You’re battling, you earn another pitch, you see it and to get rung up on that is really frustrating, especially working in front of him all night, talking to him the whole game.”
Before yelling at him when the game ended.
“I let him know that I thought it was nowhere near the zone. Unfortunately the ballgame’s over so it really doesn’t matter. And I don’t take it personally," said Haase. “It’s just, you expect the guys to be a little bit better, especially in that situation.”